Strategies to Help Children and Youth Avoid Bias When Judging Others

Revealing tips on teaching children to suppress bias, use understanding, and accept differences to grow and live happily in society.

Thai society is open and culturally diverse, encompassing various regions, lifestyles, customs, beliefs, and dialects. This diversity does not diminish our shared Thai identity. Everyone is equal and deserves equal respect. This is part of the broader concept of social development.

Therefore, encouraging children and youth to learn about and understand differences without discrimination is crucial today. This not only helps them grow to live happily in society but also supports the collective development of Thai society toward genuine happiness in living together.

Thairath Online presents guidance from the Department of Mental Health offering advice to children, youth, and families about equality and accepting differences, so they can grow and thrive happily in a multicultural society, following these recommendations.

• Encourage observing and understanding similarities and differences.

Highlight that differences are natural in society. Although each person has a unique identity, everyone shares similarities and no identity is inferior. All are equally human.

• Provide opportunities for children to ask questions about differences.

Support children in asking about differences such as skin color, gender, body shape, language, religion, and lifestyles. Parents can answer or explore information together from diverse sources with a neutral and unbiased attitude.

• Learn together through examples from social media incidents.

Use examples of discrimination and bias on social media—now a primary information source for youth—as case studies for family discussions. Topics can include causes, potential risks to ourselves, and ways to protect oneself.

• Promote cultural exchange activities.

Encourage children to participate in cultural exchanges with people from different areas or multicultural events to broaden their perspective and understand multicultural society better. This might include conversations with different accents, trying diverse foods, or sharing various customs. Additionally, they can join anti-bullying and anti-discrimination campaigns organized by clubs or social media.

• Adults should be good role models.

Adults in the family should avoid discriminating against differences, refrain from using external traits as names, not praise children solely for appearance, avoid comparing children to others, show empathy, and treat children equally with respect for their rights.

Source: Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth)

Photo: istock